USA > Missouri > Nodaway County > Past and present of Nodaway County, Missouri Volume II > Part 46
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Goldia Anderson was born April 9, 1888, near the town of Parnell, and she has made this place her home, being reared and educated here, having passed through the common schools, and later graduating with an excellent record from the normal school at Maryville. She is the daughter of James and Margaret R. (Hawk) Anderson. Her father, James Anderson, was elected sheriff of Nodaway county, serving two terms in a very praiseworthy manner, and her grandfather, A. J. Anderson, was one of the pioneer set- tlers of Nodaway county, having moved here as early as 1842 and located near the present site of Parnell, there being only three other white settlers in this part of the county. The maternal grandfather, George W. Hawk. moved from the state of Illinois to Nodaway county, Missouri, in the year I868.
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Miss Anderson is at present assistant postmistress at Parnell, a position which she has filled with credit to herself and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned for three years to the time of this publication. Owing to her edu- cational attainments, her pleasing and affable manners and her uniform kindness and culture, she is entitled to rank among the popular and worthy daughters of Nodaway county.
WILLIAM DISS.
Another citizen from the old Buckeye state who has found it very much to his advantage in many ways to spend his life in Nodaway county, Mis- souri, rather than on his native hills is William Diss, of near Ravenwood, Jackson township, who was born in Perry county, Ohio, in 1844. He is the son of Peter and Catherine Diss, natives of France, from which country they came to America about 1835 and settled in Ohio, where they remained for twenty years, moving to Illinois in 1855, where, in 1857, Peter Diss passed from earth. His wife went to Kansas to live with her son and her death occurred in that state at the advanced age of eighty-five years. Peter Diss was a nailsmith by trade, which he followed in France, but devoted his at- tention to farming in this country. He and his wife were members of the Catholic church, and the mother is buried at Maryville and the father at Mt. Sterling, Illinois. Seven children were born to them, four of whom are living, Frank, John, Joseph and William; those deceased are Jacob, Eliz- abeth and Mary.
William Diss, of this review, received a common school education, and in 1873 he was married to Amelia Doran, daughter of Lawrence and Bridget Doran, of this county. They began their married life on one hundred and twenty acres, which he owned in this county, but he sold the same in a few years and moved to North Dakota, where he lived one year, then returned to Nodaway county and purchased his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 28, Jackson township, and engaged in farming and stock raising, which he has continued very successfully, keeping his place in a good state of cultivation. The forty years he has spent in this county has seen vast changes and improvements, which he has taken a conspicuous part in, and during which time he has become widely known and made hosts of friends. He and his wife are members of the Catholic church, and
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he served as school director of his district for a number of years. Politi- cally he is a Democrat, and his support to all questions involving the general good of the community may always be depended upon.
Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Diss, namely: Clara, Peter, Lawrence, Joseph and Nellie. Clara is married to Hugh Donald and they are the parents of three children, Hubert, Francis and Gerald.
LEWIS A. NIGH.
Another of the enterprising natives of the Buckeye state who has profited by coming to Nodaway county, Missouri, is L. A. Nigh, of near Parnell, Independence township. His birth occurred in Franklin county, Ohio, in 1854. and he is the son of George and Nancy (Evans) Nigh. the mother born in Ohio and the father in Indiana. He was a painter by trade and he came to Henderson county, Illinois, in 1863 and bought forty acres of land and lived there until 1872, when he sold out and went to Kansas and bought forty acres, on which he remained until 1878. He spent the last year of his life with his son, L. A. Nigh, in this township, dying here in 1879. His wife died several years before, about 1859. George Nigh was first married to a Miss Green, then to Nancy Evans, and later to Ruth Jackson. He was the father of eight children, five children in the immediate family of the subject of this sketch. Thomas, a brother, and Henry, a half-brother, were in the Civil war ; Thomas ran away when fifteen years of age and after the third attempt at enlisting, was accepted. He served until the close of the war and then enlisted in the regular army. He was killed while he and two others were arresting a sheriff in Texas. The other son who became a soldier, Henry, lived through the war and is now a resident of Columbus, Ohio.
L. A. Nigh remained on his father's farm until nine years of age, then began working out, continuing thus until twenty years old when he came to Missouri, and while yet single came to Nodaway county, Missouri, in 1874, making the trip with a family that located in Atchison county. After remain- ing there only five days, Mr. Nigh came to Nodaway county. The first year he "cropped" for one-third share on a farm one mile north of Gaynor City. The next year he rented a farm. then ran a threshing-machine three seasons, He later traded the machine for a cow and forty dollars in money. He pro- cured a team, harness and a plow. He had a hard time getting a start, the two years preceding having been the famous grasshopper and drought years
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respectively. That spring he broke one hundred and five acres of prairie at two dollars and twenty-five cents per acre and that summer he followed the thresher.
On December 30, 1876, Mr. Nigh married Angeline Scowden, daughter of John and Susan (Holton) Scowden. John Scowden was born in Pike county, Ohio, in 1824. and was the son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Cross) Scowden, early settlers in Pike county, probably born in Pennsylvania. John Scowden devoted his life to farming, and he married Susan Holton, daughter of James and Margaret ( Staley) Holton, pioneers in Pike county, but he was born in Miller county. John Scowden and family, all but one son, came to Nodaway county, Missouri, and located in Independence township, where Mr. Scowden farmed until his death. He and his son owned one hundred and twenty acres of land, which they improved. John Scowden was the father of five children. He was a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, a Democrat and was at one time justice of the peace in Independence township, holding this office several years. He also held the same office in Ohio.
After his marriage L. A. Nigh rented two different farms, one each year following, and broke the wild prairie sod on the same. He then bought forty acres two miles south and one-half mile east of Gaynor City. Selling this for seven hundred dollars, in January, 1881, he bought eighty acres one mile east of Orrsburg at ten dollars per acre, raw prairie land. That winter he sold it for twenty-five dollars per acre, then bought eighty acres one-fourth mile east of Gaynor City, where he has since resided. He has prospered by reason of his close application and good management, has erected a good dwelling and other buildings and added to his original tract until he now has four hundred and eighty acres in the immediate vicinity of Gaynor City. He raises and feeds cattle and hogs extensively besides carrying on general farming, all in a manner that stamps him as being fully abreast of the times.
In the spring of 1910 Mr. Nigh organized the Farmers Bank at Parnell, this township, and he is director of the same. This bank is rapidly growing in prestige and fills a long felt want in this community. Mr. Nigh is now serving his fourteenth year as township trustee, having held the office con- secutively except during a brief period when the plan of this office was some- what altered and the duties of the same were discharged by the county officials. He has served very faithfully as clerk of the school board for about twenty-three years consecutively. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mrs. Nigh belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.
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The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Nigh : Leroy, May, Lora. Lizzie. John. Mary, who died when three years old; George, Ernest, Robert and Harley.
Mr. Nigh occupies a conspicuous place among the leading citizens of the north and eastern parts of Nodaway county and is well known throughout the county, enjoying the confidence and esteem of all who know him. His record demonstrates that where there is a will there is a way and that obstacles to success may be overcome by courage and self-reliance. His career has been fraught with good to his fellow-men and his example is cordially recom- mended to the youth of the land whose life work is yet a matter of the future.
P. C. WEST.
A man who is interested not only in his individual affairs, but also in those of his county in general, is P. C. West. who has one of the best kept farms in the northern part of Nodaway county. He was born in Mer- cer county, Illinois, in 1858, and is the son of H. R. and Sibble (Cooper) West, the father born in Kentucky in 1836 and the mother born in Pennsyl- vania in 1837. H. R. West was a soldier in the Union army, having enlisted in an Illinois regiment and served until the close of the war, taking part in many battles, but escaped without a wound; however, bullets passed through his clothing. He devoted his life to farming. In 1865 he moved to Iowa, buying one hundred and twenty acres of raw land in Lucas county. He made a trip to Texas, coming through Missouri in a very early day, some- time before the Civil war, and he bought a farm in the Lone Star state, but never located on it. While living at Sheridan. Iowa, he maintained a drug store for about fifteen years. He and his wife both died in Sheridan, Iowa. the former in 1898 and the latter in 1900. They were the parents of seven children. H. R. West was a Republican and he was, for many years, a member of the city council of Sheridan. Iowa. He was a member of the Christian church from his youth up. and known to all as a good man who delighted in the welfare of others and was ready to assist them.
P. C. West was educated in the public schools of Sheridan, Iowa, and after leaving the school room he took up farming for a livelihood and has devoted his attention to this line of endeavor ever since. It was in 1875 that he came to Nodaway county, and for three years thereafter he worked for his brother-in-law. also three years for his brother and one year for a
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farmer in Illinois. He then bought eighty acres of land near Gaynor City and lived there eighteen years. It was raw land, but he was a hard worker and soon had it under fine improvements. He then traded for two hundred and two acres in Hopkins township, where he is now located, owning one of the choice farms of the township, which he has brought up to a high state of improvement and which yields abundantly various kinds of crops. He has lived here since March, 1900. In 1908 he retired from active farming, but still lives in his comfortable home on the place.
Mr. West was married in 1883 to Anna Lewis, and to this union five children have been born: E. G., who is farming on the home place: L. C., who is one of the hospital physicians at Gary, Indiana, was graduated from Maryville Normal and in the spring of 1910 he graduated from a school of medicine and surgery in Chicago; Bertha B. is living at home; W. W. is engaged in the creamery business at Los Angeles, California : Ernest is living at home.
Both Mr. and Mrs. West are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and politically, Mr. West is a Republican, but he has never been an aspirant for office. His life has been led along safe and conservative lines and his relations with his fellow-men in every walk of life have been most pleasant and satisfactory owing to his constant desire to abide by the Golden Rule.
ANTHONY ROSELER.
The late Anthony Roseler, of Jackson township. Nodaway county, was a man whom everyone respected owing to his life of industry and integrity. He was successful as a farmer and established a good home for his family. Like many of our best citizens, he was a native of Germany, having been born in Sanebeck. November 26, 1842. He was the son of Aloysius and Theresa Roseler, who lived and died in their native country. Anthony grew to maturity in his home country and was educated there. In 1875 he mar- ried Christina Brauer, daughter of Henry and Johanna Brauer, who also lived and died in the Fatherland. Mr. Brauer being a weaver by trade. Mrs. Roseler was born in 1854, in Benthiem. Germany, and there grew to matur- ity and was educated.
Mr. and Mrs. Roseler came to America in May. 1880, and after working two months in a wire-nail factory in Youngstown. Pennsylvania. Mr. Roseler came to Nodaway county, Missouri, where his two sisters were located, then
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sent for his wife and three children, who came here in November of the same year. The family settled on a farm four miles east of Ravenwood. The place was covered with hazel brush and was in a very wild state, but Mr. Roseler was a hard working man and he soon had it cleared and a good home established. The family lived there very comfortably until 1903, when Mr. Roseler sold out and bought a two-hundred-acre farm three and one-fourth miles southeast of Ravenwood and there he lived until his death. on June 13, 1909. He had an excellent farm here in which he took a great pride. Mrs. Roseler and her sons operate the place very successfully, carrying out the plans the father inaugurated. Mr. Roseler was an honest, upright, loyal man, a persistent worker and a law-abiding citizen in every sense of the word, and he had not an enemy in the world. He had been an excellent soldier in the German army, serving three years, the time required of all able bodied men of the Fatherland, and he took part in the war between Germany and France in 1870-71, and in 1866 between Germany and Austria.
Mr. Roseler was twice married, first to Catherine Weber in 1868, and to this union one son, Peter Roseler, was born; he now lives in the city of St. Joseph. Mr. Roseler's first wife died in 1872. To his second union seven sons and two daughters were born, namely: Theodore, born January II, 1877; Marie, born December 6, 1878, is the wife of H. Dressmann ; Elizabeth, born November 23, 1881, is the wife of Theodore Phaff; Henry, born November 27, 1883, died April 24, 1898: Joseph, born January 31, 1886; John, born March 24, 1888; Aloysius, born July 1, 1890; Anthony, born December 14, 1892; Lawrence, born November 30, 1898. Mrs. Roseler's grandchildren are Clara Elizabeth, Leo, Catherine, Margaret, Evaline and Arthur Roseler, and Bernice, Agnes and Winton Dressmann, also Lawrence Phaff.
JOHN AND DENNIS KELLY.
The Kelly brothers, John and Dennis, are known to be citizens of the highest type and as loyal to American institutions as if this was their native land, and they are second to none in the matter of agriculture, maintaining a highly improved and productive farm in Jackson township. Nodaway county. They were born in Ireland. John in 1854 and Dennis in 1848, hav- ing first seen the light of day in the county of Mayo, parish of Balla, and they are the sons of Dennis and Bridget (Lavin) Kelly, who lived and died in their native land. John Kelly came to America in 1880 and Dennis in
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1882. They at once sought the boundless West, locating in Nodaway county, Missouri, and were employed by the Lavin brothers on the farm which the two Kelly brothers now own. This statement is enough in itself to indicate their thrift. their persistency and their good management. In 1884 John was employed in the railroad freight business and after four years he went to the Pacific coast, where he was employed in the government survey for a period of two years. He then became deputy to Major Truax, of Spokane. Washington, in government land inspection. Resigning this posi- tion in 1897. he went to Alaska to locate claims for a mining company of Seattle. Eventually he was mining on his own responsibility and, being suc- cessful, he laid by some money, but met with the misfortune of losing three thousand dollars by the closing of a bank which held his deposits. In 1901 he returned to Nodaway county and purchased the farm where he and his brother now live. They started in life without a dollar and they now own two hundred acres of excellent land, well adapted for general farming purposes. It is located in sections 20 and 21. Jackson township, and is well improved and under a fine system of cultivation. They are both good business men and always manage their affairs in a manner that brings large returns for labor expended, being practical farmers, well known for their industry and honesty. those who have had dealings with them regarding their word for an obligation as good as the bond of most men.
Two of their brothers died the same year. 1896. at St. Joseph, one of them. Michael, at the age of thirty-three, and the other, Timothy, when thirty years old. Their two sisters are Ellen, wife of P. J. Ansbro, of Grand Junction, Colorado, and Mary is the wife of J. W. McDermott, a successful business man of St. Joseph. One brother and sister. Edward and Bridget. remained in Ireland.
EDWARD ALLEN.
A descendant of an excellent Irish family is Edward Allen, of Jefferson township. Nodaway county. He himself is a native of the Empire state, born at Utica. New York, March 8. 1869, and he is the son of Samuel and Julia ( Keefe) Allen, natives of Ireland who came to America about 1852 and set- tled in the state of New York. Samuel Allen engaged in farming for eleven ยท
years, when he came with his family to Missouri, locating in section 2. Jeffer- son township, Nodaway county, purchasing two hundred and forty acres of
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unimproved land. He built a small home and engaged in farming, improv- ing his place until it was one of the choice farms of the Platte valley. He was a successful farmer and business man. In 1888, when seventy-five years old, his death occurred. Mrs. Allen remaining on the farm twelve years. then moved to Stanberry, Missouri, where she resided six years, then went to live with her daughter in Pueblo, Colorado, and she died there in 1907, at the age of seventy-seven years. She and her husband were devoted to the mother Catholic church. They are buried at Conception, this county. They were the parents of seven children, five of whom are living : John ; Michael ; Mary is the wife of William Doran: Edward; Elizabeth is the wife of C. H. Camb- ron ; those deceased are Samuel and Julia.
Edward Allen, of this review, spent his boyhood days on the farm and received a common school education. He was married on October 11. 1903. to Annie Shaw, daughter of John and Mary Shaw, of this county, both mem- bers of the Catholic church. Mr. Shaw is a farmer.
Mr. and Mrs. Allen began their married life on the farm where they now reside. It then consisted of eighty acres, which was a portion of his father's old farm, which the son had purchased. He has added to this from time to time, and is now the owner of six hundred and fifteen acres of as valuable land as the township affords. highly improved in every respect, with an attractive and substantial residence, large outbuildings, modern fencing. drainage. orchard, and, in fact, everything that makes life in the country desirable. This farm presents as beautiful a view as any in the county lying along the Platte river. The residence is located at the top of the hill overlooking the valley. Mr. Allen carries on general farming and stock raising on an ex- tensive scale and about the place may be seen hundreds of high-grade livestock. horses, cattle and hogs. For twenty years he has been a noted breeder of horses and mules. In 1907 his barn was destroyed by a cyclone and he erected a most excellent and modern one in its place. He is widely known as one of the leading business men of the township. He was one of the organ- izers of the Farmers' State Bank at Conception Junction in 1904 and he was cashier of the same for six months after its organization : resigning this posi- tion, he is now vice-president and one of the principal stockholders of the same, and much of the prestige of this safe and substantial institution is due to his able management and judicious counsel. Mr. Allen was one of a com- . mittee of five citizens to promote the location of the divisional terminal at Conception of the Chicago Great Western railroad, which was successful. and in many ways he has been of great help to Nodaway county. He is well
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known throughout the county and is highly respected by all, having maintained a reputation for square dealing with his fellow men and being public spirited and upright in all his relations with the world as well as his private life, he is deserving of the large success that has attended his efforts and of the high esteem which is accorded him by all who know him.
To Mr. and Mrs. Allen seven children have been born, five of whom are living, namely : Mary, born July 25. 1894: Samuel, born September 22, 1897 : Dorothy, born January 25, 1900: John S., born February 3. 1903: Edward. born September 4. 1908: Edward C. and Edna (twins) died in infancy.
JOHN SCHIEBER.
Among the men of sturdy integrity and reliable traits of character who have contributed their quota to the advancement of the upbuilding of Nod- away county, mention must consistently be made of Judge John Schieber. who has long ranked among the leading citizens of this locality. for many years prominently identified with the agricultural interests of the community, but now living in honorable retirement in the town of Conception. He is an American by adoption only, but as loyal to our institutions as any native-born citizen. His birth occurred in the province of Lorraine, Germany, formerly a part of France, on November 11, 1845. and when a young man. in 1862. he came to America with his mother. He has a sister living in Paris, France. Upon reaching this country they penetrated to the interior and located at Cas- cade. Dubuque county. Iowa, and there young Schieber worked for about five years to support himself and mother as best he could. taking care of the latter as long as she lived. He came to Missouri in the spring of 1868, buying eighty acres of land at two dollars per acre. one and one-half miles east of Conception in the east one-half of section 19. township 63. range 33. this being colony land. He had saved enough money by working out to pay for it. He erected a small house there and began developing the place. The mother died at St. Louis. February 4. 1884. when about seventy years of age, and is buried at Conception. After cultivating a small acreage. Mr. Schieber sold out two years later and bought one hundred and sixty acres in the same section at seven dollars per acre. and he soon bought one hundred and sixty acres in Jackson township, section 31. southwest one-fourth, town- ship 64, range 33. After living there three years, he bought a farm near his
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old place, not far from Conception. This he added to until he had two hun- dred acres, paying one thousand and fifty dollars for the first eighty, and five dollars per acre for part of the place. Another forty he paid twenty-five dol- lars per acre for. He built a good dwelling and two substantial barns and made this one of the best farms in the township; it is located two and three- fourths miles from Conception. He had one hundred and sixty dollars when he came to Missouri : this he put into land, and he has been very successful in his operations in this county. He left the old farm eight years ago, moving to a forty-acre place nearer the village ; he now rents his land and lives retired in Conception.
When he came to this county. Mr. Schieber was made school director. holding this office twenty-five or twenty-seven years, with the exception of two years when he was judge of the county court. He was township collector in 1877 and 1878, and he was assessor from 1889 to 1892. and in November. 1892. he was elected judge of the county court, from his district, serving in this capacity for two years in a manner that won the hearty commendation of all concerned. His associates were W. Yehle, who died while in office, and John Leiber, who took Yehle's place ; the other associate at this time was Wil- liam Good. Judge Schieber was elected on the Democratic ticket. and for many years he was active in party affairs here. He was again elected collector after being judge. serving six or seven years.
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